Apparatus for effecting fine adjustment in drive for roll feed mechanism



Dec. 29, 1970 c, JQNES, JR 3,550,461

APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING FINI". ADJUSTMENT TN DRIVE FOR ROLL 1mm) MECHANISM Filed Oct. 31, 1968 I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 i l W 352 I INVENTOR.

A CZai'eiic'e 0. Jzzes, L72.

ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 29, 1970 0, N JR 3,550,461

APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING FINE ADJUSTMENT IN DRIVE FOR ROLL FEED MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed OGt. 31, 1968 N INVENTOR. Clare/ice 0. Jbnes, J5".

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ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 29, 1970 c. o. JONES, JR

APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING FINE ADJUSTMENT IN DRIVE FOR ROLL FEED MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 31, 1968 Y ma T 1 N o M n 0 United States Patent O 3,550,461 APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING FINE ADJUST- MENT IN DRIVE FOR ROLL FEED MECHANISM Clarence 0. Jones, Jr., Eggertsville, N.Y., asslgnor to Niagara Machine & Tool Works, Buffalo, N.Y. Filed Oct. 31, 1968, Ser. No. 772,318 Int. Cl. F1611 21/08 US. Cl. 7489.17 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for transmitting an adjustable degree of movement to a driven pinion from a drive member having a degree of reciprocating movement adjustable to a relatively large or major degree. A rack member meshing with the pinion extends at a substantial angle to the direction of reciprocation of the drive member and an adjusting link has a pivotal mounting at one end and is pivoted at its other end to both the drive member and the rack member. The pivotal mounting of the link is adjustable about a circular path while the drive is in motion to vary the included angle between the link and the rack member thus providing an accurate minor adjustment in the amount of drive transmitted from the drive member to the pinion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to motion translation mechanisms and particularly to novel means for converting rotary to reciprocatory motion wherein a minor adjustment in the length of the reciprocatory stroke can be made freely, convenient and accurately while the mechanism is in motion.

A common area of use of the mechanism of the present invention is in the power press art wherein a strip of material is intermittently advanced to pressing apparatus from a supply roll and by way of illustration the present invention will be discussed with particular reference to such strip feeding, although the principles of the invention may be variously applied.

In strip-feeding or so-called roll feed mechanisms the drive to the strip feeding rolls is commonly from the crankshaft or other drive shaft of the power press served by the feed mechanism. An auxiliary crank secured to such drive shaft reciprocates a rack bar which, by means of a drive pinion including a one-way clutch or racket mechanism, rotates the feed rolls intermittently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In conjunction with conventional stroke adjusting means whereby the reciprocating rod or bar which extends from the power press drive shaft down to the roll feed mechanism may have a stroke variable to a relatively large or major degree, adjustment being eifected by means at the upper end of such operating rod, the present invention provides novel stroke adjusting means whereby the amount of drive transmitted to the roll feed mechanism may be varied accurately and to a relatively small or minor degree, adjustment being effected by means at the lower end of the operating rod.

The adjusting means of the present invention is freely operable while the power press and strip feeding mechanism are in motion and the arrangement is such that a highly accurate adjustment can be established and main tained. Moreover, as will be evident from a further reading of the specification, the means for effecting the minor adjustment is relatively small-sized, of compact construction, and may be readily mounted in a manner which obviates the need for special press mounting arrangements. The simple construction renders it economical to 3,550,461 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 manufacture and maintain. In addition the adjusting means is self-locking so that an adjustment can be maintained without the provision of additional locking means.

While a single specific embodiment of the principles of the present invention is illustrated in the acompanying drawing and described in detail in the following specification, it is to be understood that such embodiment is by way of example only and that various mechanical modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is limited only as defined in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view looking at the left hand side of a power press showing the lower end of the reciprocating operating rod, the rear portion of the feed roll mechanism, and one form of the stroke adjusting means of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the structure of FIG. 1 taken from the right hand side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line IV-IV of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic fragmentary elevational view showing an adjustable eccentric driving connection from the main shaft of a power press to the feed roll operating rod.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings and, referring to FIG. 1, a pair of feed rolls of a feed roll apparatus such as is conventionally used in conjunction with power presses are designated 10 and 11. The feed rolls 10 and 11 are journaled at their ends in bearing brackets, one of which is shown at 12 in FIG. 1, and the brackets are secured to a base 13 which is positioned at one side of the bed of a power press in the usual manner. In the present illustration the lower roll 11 is the driven roll of the feed mechanism and is advanced in adjustable increments by connection with the main shaft of a power press with which the feed roll mechanism is associated.

In FIG. 1 the numeral 14 designates a reciprocable rod which operates the feed roll mechanism. As shown schematically in FIG. 5, the upper end of rod 14 is pivoted eccentrically as at 15 to the end of a drive shaft 16, conventionally the crank or eccentric shaft of a power press. In the present apparatus a major or relatively large adjustment in the stroke and the resultant feeding movement is accomplished by adjusting the eccentricity or throw of the crank at the upper end of rod 14 in any suitable manner. As shown by way of illustration in FIG. 5, there is fixedly mounted on the end of shaft 16 a fitting 17 provided with a slot 18 in the end face thereof within which pivot 15 may be clamped at a selected distance from the axis of shaft 16. As the axial displacement of pivot 15 from shaft 16 is increased, the greater will be the degree of eccentricity and hence the length of the reciprocating stroke of rod 14.

Relatively small or minor variations in the feeding movements of the feed rolls 10 and 11 to produce highly accurate feed lengths are effected by adjustment of the driving connection between the low-er end of reciprocating rod 14 and the feed rolls in a manner and by means which will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Extending in a direction substantially away from the feed rolls 10, 11 and toward the operating rod 14 is a mounting plate 19 which is rigidly secured to a vertical portion of the press frame. A mounting bracket 20 is rigidly secured to base 13, and fixed to one end of the bracket is a plate member 21 as can be seen also in FIG. 2.

The drive from reciprocating rod 14 to roll 11 is as follows. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lower end of rod 14 is bifurcated as at 22 and one end of a rack bar 23 is pivoted between the bifurcations by a pivot pin 25. The location of the axis of pivot pin 25 is adjustable by means of a link 26 in a manner which will presently be described, and the final adjusted location of the axis of pin 25, together with the preliminary adjusted location of pivot 15, determines the effective stroke length of rack bar 23 in a manner which will presently be described.

Rack bar 23 extends through guide formations 27 of a rack guide and pinion housing designated 28 in FIGS. 1 and 2. A shaft 30 has an antifriction bearing 31 at one end which is positioned in plate 19 as shown in FIG. 2. Shaft 30 extends through pinion housing 28, through a one-way clutch designated 32 in FIG. 2, and comprises the input shaft of a conventional 90 degree helical drive unit designated 33 in FIG. 2.

A pinion 34 in housing 28 is rotatable on shaft 30 and is fixed to the housing of clutch 32, the latter being a conventional one-way clutch of the type wherein the housing comprises the drive member and an internal hub comprises the driven member. In the present illustration the internal hub driven member is fixed to shaft 30 and thus drives the right angle drive unit.

The output shaft of drive unit 33 is coaxial with and fixed to a shaft 35 which comprises the mounting shaft of driven feed roll 11. From the foregoing it will be seen that each reciprocation of rack bar 23 in one direction will be transmitted to shaft 35 and feed roll 11 through pinion 34 and clutch 32 and thence through drive unit 33, while shaft 35 will be idle during return movements of rack bar 23.

The stroke adjustment means will now be described. Link 26, which is connected at one end to pivot pin 25, extends at the other end into a region defined by bracket 20 and plate 21 and, as shown in FIG. 4, is rotatably mounted at that end on a pivot member 36 by means of bearing 37.

An eccentric shaft 38 is fixed to pivot member 36 and has bearing in bracket 20. A worm wheel 39 is fixed to the portion of shaft 38 which extends beyond bracket 20. The opposite end of shaft 38 is rotatably mounted in an opening in plate 21.

As seen most readily in FIGS. 1 and 2, worm wheel 39 is engaged by a worm 40 fixed to a shaft 41. A right angle drive is thus provided to shaft 38 from shaft 41 which is coupled through a support 42 to a flexible drive 43 connected to a calibrated hand wheel 44 which may be mounted in a convenient location whereby the degree of rotation of shafts 41 and 38 may be readily and accurately regulated.

As shaft 38 is rotated through one complete revolution, the center of pivot member 36 will travel about the circumference of a circle having a radius equal to the axial displacement of shaft 38 from pivot member 36. In FIG. 1 link 26 may be assumed to be shown in an intermediate position in terms of the distance between the axis of the pivot member 36 and the point of tangency between rack bar 23 and pinion 34. It thus can be seen that a rotation of shaft 38 in one direction will increase this distance up to a maximum through degrees of shaft rotation whereas an opposite rotation of the shaft will decrease this distance down to a minimum, again through 90 degrees of shaft rotation. The worm drive 39, 40, when stationary, is sufficient to keep shaft 38 from rotating further once an adjustment has been made and renders the adjustment means self-locking.

The angle of travel imparted to pinion 34 by rack bar 23 and hence the strip length provided by each forward movement of the feed mechanism is determined by the aforementioned distance between the axis of the pivot member 36 and the point of tangency between rack bar 23 and pinion 34. The maximum variation in this distance obtainable through the stroke adjustment means of the present invention is determined by the axial displacement of shaft 38 from pivot member 36. Expressed differently, the maximum variation is equal to the diameter of the circle around which the axis of pivot member 36 is caused to travel.

One using the stroke adjustment mechanism of the invention would first make a coarse or major adjustment in the strip length of the feed mechanism by changing the axial displacement between shaft 16 and pivot 15 so as to adjust the length of the reciprocating stroke of operating rod 14, as explained in the previous discussion of FIG. 5. Then a fine or minor adjustment in the strip length can be made and, if desired, while the feed mechanism is operating, simply by a turning of the hand wheel 44 in a direction depending upon whether an increase or decrease in the strip length is desired and through a degree of rotation depending upon the magnitude of the desired increase or decrease. More specifically, a turning of wheel 44 in a direction to cause an increase in the strip length is transmitted through flexible drive 43 and support 42 to turn shaft 41 and gear 40 and hence gear 39 and shaft 38 with the resulting increase in the distance between the axis of pivot member 36 and the point of tangency between pinion 34 and rack bar 23. Through a similar analysis it will be seen that a turning of wheel 44 in the opposite direction will cause a decrease in the distance between the axis of pivot member 36 and the same point of tangency with a resulting decrease in the strip length.

A first important advantage of the stroke adjustment means of the present invention is the accuracy obtainable in making fine or minor adjustments. When the axis of pivot member 36 is displaced a given distance toward or away from the point of tangency between rack 23 and pinion 34 the amount of rotation of shaft 38 required to cause that linear displacement will be greater than that distance. Thus the arrangement of the present invention is more accurate than such prior arrangements where the pivot member 36 would be moved linearly, for example by hand through a slot in a suitable housing.

A second important advantage is the simplicity of construction of the stroke adjusting means. It may be mounted upon base 13 as a unit by means of bracket 20, requiring no special press mounting arrangements. In addition, it is compact, with the components for adjusting the displacement of pivot member 36 being contained within the region described by bracket 20 and plate 21.

A third important advantage is the self-locking characteristic of the stroke adjusting means resulting from the worm drive which obviates the need to provide any additional mechanical locking arrangement.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for transmitting reciprocating movement and for adjusting the degree of transmitted movement relative to a given degree of input movement, said apparatus comprising a reciprocating drive member and a driven pinion, a rack member meshing with said pinion and pivoted adjacent to an end thereof to said drive member, said rack member extending at an angle to the general direction of reciprocation of said drive member, an adjusting link separate from said rack member and said drive member having a pivotal mounting at one end offset laterally from said rack member and said drive member and pivoted at its other end to one of said members, and means for adjusting the axis of the pivotal mounting of said link toward and away from said rack member by moving said axis in a circular path to adjust the degree of rotation imparted to said pinion by said rack member for a given degree of reciprocation of said drive member.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a guide member rotatably mounted coaxially with said pinion member and coacting with said rack member to slidably guide the same in meshing relation with said pinion.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the pivot between the drive member and the rack member and the pivot of said link member thereto have a common axis.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a unidirectional clutch driven by said pinion member whereby to and fro movement imparted to the pinion member by said rack bar produce an intermittent unidirectional out put motion.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a shaft rigidly connected to said pivot mounting and eccentric with respect to the axis of said pivotal mounting, means supporting said shaft on a relatively fixed axis, and means for rotating said shaft to move the axis of said pivotal mounting to adjust the degree of transmitted movement.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said means for rotating said shaft is self-locking.

7. Apparatus for transmitting reciprocating movement and for adjusting the degree of transmitted movement relative to a given degree of input movement, said apparatus comprising a reciprocating drive member and a driven wheel, a bar member and means guiding the same for movement in a generally tangential direction relative to said wheel, said bar member having means for driving engagement with said wheel, said bar member being pivoted adjacent to an end thereof to said drive member, said bar member extending at an angle to the general direction of reciprocation of said drive member, an adjusting link having a pivotal mounting at one end and pivoted at its other end to one of said members, and adjustment means for moving the axis of the pivotal mounting of said link toward and away from the point of engagement of said bar member with said pinion by moving said axis in a circular path to adjust the degree of rotation imparted to said wheel by said bar member for a given degree of reciprocation of said drive member.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said wheel member comprises a pinion and said bar member comprises a rack meshing therewith.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the pivot of said adjusting link with said members is coaxial with the pivot between said drive member and said bar member.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the pivot of said adjusting link with said members is coaxial with the pivot between said drive member and said bar member.

11. Apparatus for transmitting reciprocating movement and for adjusting the degree of transmitted movement relative to a given degree of input movement, said apparatus comprising a reciprocating drive member, a driven pinion,-a rack member meshing with said pinion and extending at an angle to the general direction of reciprocation of said drive member, an adjusting link having a pivotal mounting at one end and pivoted adjacent to its other end to both of said members, and means for adjusting the location of the axis of the pivotal mounting of said link toward and away from said rack member by moving said axis in a circular path to vary the included angle between said link and said rack member to adjust the degree of rotation imparted to said pinion by said rack member for a given degree of reciprocation of said drive member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,153,157 9/1915 George 7489.l7

2,592,237 4/1952 Bradley 74571 2,834,223 5/1958 Strnad 74-571 FOREIGN PATENTS 480,510 2/1951 Italy M 74-29 FRED C. MATTERN, JR., Primary Examiner W. S. RATLIFF, JR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

